Yoon Seok-yeol Government Pension and Funds, 3 Trillion Won Investment in Japanese War Criminal Companies?

National Pension Service and Sovereign Wealth Fund "No Special Intent" Explanation
Ahn Do-geol "Is There a Need to Invest 국민 Money in Forced Mobilization Companies?"

Ando-geol Assemblyman

The scale of investments made by the National Pension Service and the Korea Investment Corporation in Japanese "war crime companies" (companies involved in forced labor during Japanese colonial rule) has surpassed 3 trillion won.

According to an analysis of National Assembly audit data submitted by the National Pension Service and the Korea Investment Corporation to Ando Geol, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Gwangju Dongnam-eul), the National Pension Service invested 2.27 trillion won in 63 Japanese war crime companies by the end of last year, after the Yoon Seok-yeol administration took office. This amount is nearly 1.5 times the 1.54 trillion won invested at the end of 2022.

The sovereign wealth fund, Korea Investment Corporation, was also revealed to have invested approximately 800 billion won (580 million USD) in 31 war crime companies as of May this year. Both the National Pension Service and the Korea Investment Corporation have made their largest-ever investments in Japanese war crime companies.

Last year, four forced labor companies received investments exceeding 100 billion won each from the National Pension Service: Shin-Etsu Chemical with 695 billion won, Toyota with 535 billion won, Mitsubishi Electric with 123 billion won, and Daikin Industries with 113 billion won. The total investment by the National Pension Service in Mitsubishi Group companies (Electric, Heavy Industries, Chemical), which have contested the South Korean Supreme Court’s compensation rulings, amounted to 215 billion won.

In response, the National Pension Service stated, "We invest in a portfolio of more than 4,000 stocks across over 40 countries worldwide, and do not separately distinguish 'specific individual companies' in our investments," adding, "Calculating investment gains or losses solely based on the sale of Mitsubishi Japan is meaningless." The Korea Investment Corporation also responded, "There is no specific intent; this is a general investment method following the global index (MSCI)."

Regarding this, Assemblyman Ando said, "The world's largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (NBIM), has established an ethics committee that 'pinpoint excludes' companies with issues related to environment, society, governance (ESG), as well as human rights violations, environmental damage, and corruption," and pointed out, "It is questionable whether the two institutions managing the retirement funds entrusted by the public and foreign currency reserves need to invest in stocks of forced labor companies that violate human rights and do not comply with our country’s system."